"People to Watch"

BY DEAN KATZ
Seattle Times staff reporter

Looking back, it is easy to see who the big newsmakers of 1984 were. It's a bit more difficult to predict who will make the news in 1985. Lacking prescient powers, we have tried to do the next best thing: present a number of the people we think will be making important contributions to our community over the next 12 months. They are by no means the only ones who will. And, indeed, you may not hear from some of them. But in our view, their achievements and their potantial warrant note as we begin the year anew.

RICHARD HANSEN and DAVID ALLEN, Defense Lawyers

Richard Hansen and David Allen aren't the most modest men about town, but then, they're probably entitled to boast a bit.

Former public defenders, Hansen, 37, and Allen, 40, rank at the top among criminal defense lawyers working in this city.

"We both have a very good track record as criminal lawyers," said Allen, who as a public defender once had a string of 20 acquittals or hung juries in a row.

Of more than 10 cases argued before the state Supreme Court, "I've only lost one," said Hansen.

They have the city's current "name" defendant -- Kevin Coe -- as a client. Coe, charged as being Spokane's South Hill rapist, will stand retrial in King County Superior Court beginning tomorrow. Next month, Hansen and Allen take to court what promises to be one of the most watched civil lawsuits in the city in years: Steve Titus' false-arrest lawsuit against the Port of Seattle.

Titus was convicted in 1981 of raping a 17-year-old hitchhiker, but the charge was dismissed following a Seattle Times investigation.

Says Hansen: "We love what we do. That's a big factor in our success rate. We work hard, we care about our clients and we care about winning."